Portland city councilors are beginning to review applications for the city manager job and will be narrowing a list of 63 applicants to a handful of finalists for interviews in April.

Applicants’ names and applications aren’t public information, a city spokesperson said Thursday, and interim City Manager Danielle West declined to say whether she has applied.

“At this stage, anyone who applied is confidential, and I think she wants to be treated like anyone else,” said city spokesperson Jessica Grondin.

Over the next few weeks, search firm Baker Tilly, the consultant helping the city with the hiring process, will identify 10 to 15 semi-finalists.

Thursday marked the start of the review process, though the job posting is still open and applications are still being accepted.

Anne Lewis of Baker Tilly told the City Council’s City Manager Search Subcommittee that 63 applications have been received to date and a few more may still “trickle in.”

The semi-finalists will be asked to provide more information and do a recorded video interview with Baker Tilly, which will provide the city with a link to the videos and a semi-finalist report on March 6.

The subcommittee is then scheduled to meet March 16 in executive session to narrow the list to two to three finalists who will visit the city in April for in-person interviews with councilors and staff. A public forum is also being proposed.

Mayor Kate Snyder said Thursday that carving out time for community feedback will be important as the search progresses. The city already received more than 700 responses to a community survey.

“I would suggest we do want to build that (community feedback) work in,” Snyder said.

Councilors also stressed the importance of getting input on the hire from staff across the city, but said they don’t want to drag the process out too much.

“(We want to) have folks from all categories,” said Councilor Regina Phillips. “I know the department heads will be reporting to the city manager, but I also want to hear from the janitor … I want us to pick a broad range of staff so we can hear from everybody.”

Hiring a city manager was significantly delayed by the work of the Charter Commission, which started a review of city government in 2021 and last year recommended changes to the jobs of city manager and mayor.

Voters rejected those changes in November.

“I know it’s really important to include all these voices, but I also know we are in desperate need of getting this process completed,” said Councilor April Fournier. “I want to be mindful of, if we add too many layers and too many steps, it’s going to be December before we get somebody hired.”

The city manager is the top non-elected job in Portland government, responsible for running day-to-day operations, managing over 1,200 employees, and preparing and administering the annual budget. The manager also oversees economic development, waterfront policy, island and community outreach, and regional communications.

West, who has been in the position since November 2021, earns a salary of $186,511. She replaced Jon Jennings, who served as manager from 2015 until November 2021, when he left for a similar job in Clearwater, Florida. Jennings was fired from his new job in Florida last month after city councilors there raised concerns about his performance and said he wasn’t “a good fit.”

The city is advertising a salary range of $190,000 to $225,000 for the next city manager.

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